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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2017 Legislation could prevent some deportations of legal immigrants Attempt to avoid federal enforcement By PARIS ACHEN Capital Bureau SALEM — State lawmak- ers are considering a change to sentencing law that could help prevent the mandatory federal deportation of legal immigrants convicted of gross misdemeanors. The proposal is in an amendment to Attorney Gen- eral Ellen Rosenblum’s bill to discourage racial profiling. The change would reduce the maximum sentence for a Class A misdemeanor from 365 days to 364 days. A 365- day sentence is one of several triggers for mandatory fed- eral deportation of green card holders, refugees and other legal noncitizens. Other trig- gers are violent crimes and felonies, said Stephen Man- ning, a Portland immigration attorney. The change would have no effect on illegal immigrants. “This is an equity issue,” said state House Speaker Tina Kotek, D-Portland. “Peo- ple should not be torn from their families and their com- munities because of an arbi- trary difference between state and federal sentencing law for low-level, nonviolent misdemeanors.” If adopted, the law would make Oregon uniform with Washington state and Cali- fornia, which already made the change in the last several years. It would serve to strengthen the three states’ governors’ efforts to create “a zone of inclusivity” along the West Coast, Manning said. Gov. Kate Brown has been defiant in the face of President Donald Trump’s executive orders limiting immigration and banning refugees, which also have been halted by the courts. In February, Brown issued her own executive order bar- ring the use of state resources to enforce federal immigra- tion policy. Rosenblum subse- quently sought to join Wash- ington’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s immi- gration orders. “Gov. Brown supports the amendment and looks for- ward to signing the racial pro- filing bill into law to better protect all Oregonians,” said Bryan Hockaday, the gover- nor’s press secretary. Kotek requested the sen- tencing change to be added to an amendment to a bill that requires police to collect data on race when they pull over drivers or pedestrians. The bill is meant to discourage racial profiling by law enforcement. Kotek made the request after receiving feedback from community groups, law enforcement, immigration attorneys and others work- ing on the racial profiling bill, said Lindsey O’Brien, a spokeswoman in the Speak- er’s Office. Felonies, certain violent crimes and 365-day or greater sentences for gross misde- meanors can trigger manda- tory deportation under federal law. Class A misdemeanors in Oregon can range from falsi- fying information and writing a bad check to fourth-degree assault. “Shifting to 364 days means our fellow Orego- nians are not subject to that very drastic penalty,” Man- ning said. As an immigration attor- Oregon GMO pre-emption battle continues in Senate Bill would restore local control over crop regulations By MATEUSZ PERKOWSKI Capital Bureau SALEM — A proposal to allow local governments in Ore- gon to regulate genetically engi- neered crops has died in the state House but the battle remains alive in the Senate. State lawmakers prohibited most local governments from restricting seed in 2013, but Senate Bill 1037 would exempt genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, from that statewide pre-emption law. A similar proposal, House Bill 2469, failed to survive a recent legislative deadline in the House Committee on Agricul- ture and Natural Resources. However, Senate Bill 1037 was timely scheduled for a work session on Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Envi- ronment and Natural Resources, which is chaired by state Sen. Mike Dembrow, D-Portland, the bill’s chief sponsor. While committee members didn’t take action on SB 1037, they did hear conflicting testi- mony about the right to self-de- termination among local gov- ernments versus the efficiency of statewide agricultural rules. “We’re asking for flexibil- ity in Oregon,” said Mary Mid- dleton, director of Oregonians for Safe Farms and Families, a group that supported a ballot ini- tiative banning GMOs in Jose- phine County. While voters in Josephine County voted in favor of the GMO ban in 2014, a state judge has ruled the ordinance is pre- empted by state law. Middleton urged the com- mittee members to “honor the will of the people” by passing SB 1037, which would retroac- tively make Josephine County’s ordinance effective. Proponents of SB 1037 argued that lawmakers passed the statewide pre-emption on local seed rules with the under- standing that Oregon regulators would step into the breach, but that hasn’t materialized. “Our farms remain at risk of contamination because the state has not put any protections in place,” said Carol Valentine, a Josephine County resident. The Association of Ore- gon Counties opposes SB 1037 because genetic engineering is a complex issue best left to the state government, said Mike McArthur, the group’s execu- tive director. “This is not the proper role for a county government to be engaged in,” he said. Lawmakers created an exception to the 2013 pre-emp- tion bill for Jackson County, which already had a GMO ban proposal on its ballot at that point. McArthur said the govern- ment of Jackson County is none- theless not enforcing the GMO ban due to a lack of resources. Craig Pope, a Polk County commissioner, said he sympa- thizes with the organic farming community but said county gov- ernments need to focus on pub- lic safety and other key services. “Continuing to hammer at pre-emption is not going to solve this problem,” Pope said. The economic threat of cross-pollination among organic, conventional and GMO crops was also debated at the hearing. Buyers of organic seed have no tolerance for traces of biotech traits, so the risk posed by GMO crops is a “one way street” that can only damage organic grow- ers, said Don Tipping, an organic producer in southern Oregon. “For us, this is an economic issue,” he said. Helle Ruddenklau, a seed grower in Polk County who opposed SB 1037, said the prob- lem of cross-pollination isn’t limited to GMO crops, but farmers find ways to resolve the issue. For example, if a neighbor is planting a related seed crop, Ruddenklau establishes a buffer strip to distance her crop from the pollen, she said. “That’s a financial burden for us, but it’s a cost of being a cer- tified seed grower in Oregon,” she said. The Capital Bureau is a col- laboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. ney, Manning said he sees legal immigrants deported for misdemeanor crimes all of the time. “I couldn’t even count for you how many times,” he said. “It’s extremely pain- ful and sad … and is a form of stigmatization against noncitizens.” The House Judiciary Com- mittee adopted the amendment and approved the overarching bill in March. No one addressed the significance of the sentenc- ing change at that time. Reps. Sal Esquivel of Medford, and Mike Nearman of Independence said they oppose the change because they see it as an attempt to cir- cumvent federal law. “To me that is a way to dodge the federal law,” said Esquivel, who is the son of a legal Mexican immigrant. “You’re on probation when you come here on a green card.” The two Republican law- makers co-sponsored legis- lation this session to outlaw sanctuary city designations and to make English the state’s official language. Several Oregon cities, including Portland, have declared themselves sanc- tuary cities for immigrants, and the Trump administration has threatened to pull federal grants and other funding from those jurisdictions. The bill is now before the Joint Committee on Ways and Means but won’t have another hearing until May, said Rep. Duane Stark, R-Grants Pass, chairman of the Subcommit- tee on Public Safety. The Capital Bureau is a collaboration between EO Media Group and Pamplin Media Group. 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